This invention pertains to an implement for threading electric wires through inaccessible spaces or areas. Fishing tapes are well known that are used for threading or pulling electric wires through pre-existing conduits. A condition is that the conduits are pre-existing in walls or floors when they are being constructed. The fishing tapes are made of steel and are quite flexible and easily follow the interior hollow of the conduits which can have quite a few bends or curves. They also can follow a considerable distance.
A problem arises when there are no pre-existing conduits to pull a wire through the same and yet electrical wires have to be placed in walls or ceilings as is often found in retrofits of buildings or houses or when remodeling the same. Sometimes extra electric outlets are desired or demanded in certain areas or extra switches are necessary. The only areas where extra wires could be placed is found in false ceilings or hollow stud walls. The use of the fishing implement of this invention is not limited to only electrical wires but could involve telephone wires, TV cables, alarm system cables or wires used to operate remote thermostats The known flexible fishing tapes are useless because they are too flexible and would coil up after a short distance. The fishing implement of this invention therefore, should be rather rigid but still flexible enough to overcome some obstructions found in walls or false ceilings. in order to be transportable, the implement should consist of shorter sections that can be connected to each other to form a longer piece. The length of each section could be four to six feet long or longer in some circumstances. An advantage of the inventive implement is that it is preferably made of fiberglass. This would eliminate all possibilities of electric shocks when working in an electrical environment which could pose quite a hazard for a worker.
Experiments have shown that a more rigid fishing device has certain drawbacks that are being addressed in this specification. As mentioned above, the device at hand involves several sections of a certain length that are connected together to form a long implement. The known connections are female connectors that are applied at either end of a section of a fish rod and the final connections are accomplished by male connection pieces which are screwed into both ends of the female connectors. It has been found that, while this method works quite well, it has its disadvantages in that more male loose male connectors must be kept on hand because they can easily get lost due to their small individual sizes. Furthermore, if the individual connector elements are made of steel, it is difficult to attach the female parts to the fiberglass rods because it is difficult to place fastening dimples into the steel sleeves to connect to the fiberglass rods. Consequently, the sleeves must be fastened to the fiberglass rods by gluing. It is also known to make the above noted connector elements from brass. This presents no problem to fasten the various sleeves to the fiberglass rods by the method of driving dimples into sleeves which also will penetrate into the fiberglass material to assure a secure fastening. It has been found, however, that once the various elements are manufactured from brass, the connection made is somewhat weak in that if any intentional or inadvertent bending of an elongated fish element occurs, the brass components can break.